Middle School Success is a set of 11 CDs to help children age 13 to 15 learn things on the computer that they might have missed in class. It is a complete set with the 11 CDs and has no other books with it. The CDs are easy to run just put them in the computer and you are off and going.

CD 1 -Time Engineers Engineering the Past

This CD is really fun and challenges the children to learn. My Children made it to level 3 and then they got stuck.

CD2 - In Search of Lost Words

This CD is a reading game and it is fun to play, but the age level is for younger children. I would say it is for children around 3rd or 4th grade level.

CD3 - Composition

This CD is a good tool for a child who thinks they would like to become a writer.

CD4 - Spelling

The program on this CD is very fun and teaches the children to spell in many different ways.

CD5 - Interactive Picture Dictionary

This CD is a language conversion program. It takes a word from four other countries and pronounces it in there language, then shows a picture and shows the English word on the screen.

CD6 - Encyclopaedia Britannica - Touch the Sky, Touch the Universe

This CD is all about the solar system. It is very cool because you are able to click on things in the sky and it will tell you all about it. It is filled with tons of information.

CD7 - Encyclopaedia Britannica -The Wonderful Language of Nature

This CD is about nature and has information on lots of different animals in it. The children really liked learning new information about animals.

CD8 - Typing Tutor

This CD game on Typing is really cool. I played it for a good while, and it is well done.

CD9 - Encyclopaedia Britannica - Profiles U.S. Presidents

This CD is really awesome. It tells you all about the Presidents, it even tells you the number of votes that the President received during the election and how much the other party received.

CD10 - The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2003

This CD is okay, it just tells you of things that happened in 2003.

CD11- World Book Encyclopedia 2004 Standard Edition

This CD is neat because you are able to get a time line of history or geography for whatever year you want. You can do it by a specific year or by the decade or even by the century.

DVD1 and DVD2 are bonus material that they put in the box. These are DVDs that you watch on your TV that are interactive. You can use the remote to take a quiz after you listen to the story. They were a very nice bonus. I don't know if every box has the same bonus DVDs or not. The DVDs that were in the box I am reviewing are:

DVD1 Tell Me Why: The Egyptian, Incan & Mayan Empires
DVD2 The Solar System Pt. 1 & 2

All the CDs are packed with information to help your children learn, and they do most of it in a way to make the learning fun. This would not be a core curriculum, but it is good fun learning and so full of educational things for the kids to do in the afternoon or on the weekend.

I would say that I would highly recommend someone to buy this software, there is so much information on all the CDs that you can't go wrong for the price that you pay. My boys have played most of the programs and they enjoyed almost all of them. My boys are 11 and 9 years old. I am planning on buying the program that they have for younger children since I have 3 girls under 8 years old.



-- Product Review by: Kimberley Wampler, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine